


Voltron Form Up

by boredomsMuse



Series: Voltron Form Up [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance has so many secrets, M/M, also this was meant to be a small protect, but who knows if i'll finish the series i mean its me, it'll end up as quiet latte, its everything i want in life, now i have like three fics plotted out including this one, this got out of control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 08:15:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18048884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredomsMuse/pseuds/boredomsMuse
Summary: There was an idea, called the Voltron Initiative.  The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to recreate the Voltron of old.  For them to fight the battles we never could, just as the first Voltron did against the galra.





	Voltron Form Up

**Author's Note:**

> This started as me listing out Marvel characters as Voltron Characters  
> And this happened  
> It got a little out of control.
> 
> [By the way, I have website if you want to check it out. I post my original stuff there.](https://kailsmusings.wordpress.com)

“Hey, the lights are still on.”  Lance grinned as he stepped onto the balcony of his newly self-powered office building.  “Guess all your worrying was for nothing.” He walked inside, picking up the glass of whiskey Hunk hadn't let him touch earlier.

“My worrying was perfectly justified!”  Hunk defended. “You almost dropped it!”

“He was messing with you.”  Ryan pointed out, the same time Lance said ‘I was messing with you’.  Lance looked over to find his assistant’s nose in his tablet. Looking at energy readings or emails, Lance wasn’t sure.  Either way he decided it wasn’t important enough to be ignoring this.

“Put the tablet down, I gave you the night off.”  Lance rolled his eyes, taking the tablet from Ryan with limited protesting.  

“Just because you gave me the day off doesn’t mean the company did.”  Ryan claimed.

“I literally own the company.”  Lance argued. “And besides, you’re going to be writing the report on Hunk’s awesome, self-sustaining battery.  You need to be paying attention.” 

“I thought you gave me the day off.”  Ryan smirked.

“You’ve got company.”  A male voice called from the ceiling speakers.

“Thank you LOGIC.”  Hunk huffed.

“No, I mean someone’s coming up in the elevators.”  LOGIC clarified. Lance frowned, hands reaching for the small device on his hip.  With merely a press of a button he'd be holding an incredibly powerful (and awesome) gun.

“Who?”  He asked, the playful tone of a moment ago gone.  “No one should have access to this building.” The workers clearance had ran out when the building was finished a few days ago.  The limited number of people with active clearance had been chosen by Lance himself, and they knew better than to show up unannounced.

“It appears Agent McClain does.”  Just as LOGIC said it, the elevator slipped open.  Lance groaned, letting go of his main defence. Agent McClain stepped into the room, dressed in full uniform and holding a tablet.  Not even a Kozran Industries one either. Rude.

“Sorry to interrupt.”  Agent McClain greeted, her expression tight.

“Yes you were definitely interrupting and you should totally leave.”  Lance huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You’re not interrupting anything.”  Ryan assured. “We were just working.”  Lance gasped.

“ _ Ryan _ .”  

“Hi Veronica.”  Hunk greeted.

“Who’s Veronica?”  Lance asked. “I only see Agent.”  Hunk sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Dr Garrett.”  Veronica nodded to Hunk.  She turned to Lance, holding out the tablet.  “Mr Kozran, we need you to look this over as soon as possible.”

“Can’t sorry.  I don’t take things from strangers, especially not low-tech things.”  Lance refused. Ryan rolled his eyes, swapping his drink for Agent McClain’s tablet, then swapping again with Lance.  Lance just glared as both Ryan and Veronica took a sip of their new drinks. “I guess I’ll get to it  _ eventually _ .”  He said.  “But I can’t promise fast results, could take anywhere from a month to a year really.  I'm a very busy man Agent.” 

“Mr Korzan, this is a top priority document.  The garrison excepts a response by tomorrow morning.”  Agent McClain said.

“Top priority?”  Hunk repeated, excited.  “Oh! Is this about Voltron?  Uh, not that I know anything about that.  Obviously.” 

“Neither do I.”  Ryan added. Agent McClain rolled her eyes, taking another quick and quiet sip of her drink.  She was on the job after all, and that meant a constant microphone and no unapproved drinking.

“Wasn’t Voltron was scrapped?”  Lance said, begrudgingly turning on the tablet.  “LOGIC screens.” As he pushed the documents forward, screens flickered to life displaying them.  Articles, videos, and photos filled the rooms far wall. The first folder seemed to cover all the supers tagged for Voltron - reports on powers, personalities, history, and more.  Lance looked down at the tablet, there were a lot more folders to go through.

“Looks like we’re definitely working.”  Hunk sighed. 

“Unfortunately, I can’t clear you or Mr Kinkade to stay.”  Agent McClain said. “You aren’t even classified to see this much.”  She added, pointedly.

“Oh please, it’s nothing they haven’t seen before.”  Lance brushed. “Except…” He focused on the picture of a glowing blue lion at the edge of the screen.  “Huh, what’s this?”

“That would be our cue.”  Ryan said as Lance became engrossed in the information on screen.  “Goodnight Lance.”

“Bye Lance.”  Hunk called. Lance offered a distracted reply as they all turned towards the elevator.

“You know, I didn’t think Lance even qualified for Voltron.”  Hunk commented. “Not, uh, that I know about all that or anything.”

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore.”  Agent McClain said. “Mr Korzan might be a clown, a flirt, and incredibly egotistical,”

“That we did know.”  Ryan interrupted.

“But we need Iron Champion.”  McClain finished, Ryan's remark making her smirk.

“I can still hear you, you know.”   Lance called, shooting a glare back as the elevator doors slipped closed.  

* * *

Paladin was already on the scene, wrestling the humanoid alien with purple skin and lots of white hair.  The civilians had scattered and though this Lotor guy hadn't used his staff thingy yet, Lance was sure it was just a matter of time.

He needed to be there like an hour ago.

“Good going Garrison, telling me last about the fight with the very guy you want my help fighting.”  Lance muttered, trying to put a bit more speed into his thrusters. He was already going as fast as possible.

“Calm down, you're almost in range now.”  LOGIC assured. “Looks like it's Agent Kogane flying the Garrison transport.  Want me to patch you in?”

“Please do.”  At least he’d get something out of this.  All he had to do we act like this was intentional.  He was late because it was faishionable, not because the Garrison was full of morons.

“Patching you through in 3… 2…”  LOGIC cut off as the comm connected.  Lance rolled his eyes as he heard Battle Cry by Havana Brown fading in.  He and LOGIC had to talk about his song choices.

“Agent Kogane.”  Lance greeted. “Miss me?”

“Son of a-”  He heard Agent Kogane mutter before Lance closed the comm line.  He whipped around to the fight, quickly blasting Lotor before he could get over his surprise.  The attack sent Lotor flying back and Lance was just as quick to land and train every weapon he had on Lotor.  Local paranoid Hunk had built his suit, it had a lot of guns.

“Your turn, purple L’Oréal commercial.”  Lance said. Lotor placed down his staff, raising his hands in surrender.  That was too easy, Lance thought even he disabled his weapons. “Oh good, there is a brain under all that terrible bleaching.”  Behind him, Agent Kogane started to land the jet.

“Mr Korzan.”  Paladin greeted, sounding slightly out of breath.  Which Lance definitely didn’t find validating in the slightest, not at all.  He’d only worshipped the ground Paladin walked on before he actually got the chance to meet the jerk.   Jerk.

“Paladin.”  Lance returned.

* * *

“I don't like this.”  Paladin said quietly, like there was any way Lotor couldn't hear them on the tiny transport ship.  

“What?  The inflight entertainment, or how ridiculously easy that was?”  Lance prompted, making no such efforts to soften his voice. Paladin’s mouth twitched, but he didn't bother telling Lance off.

“They never give up that easy.”  Paladin simply clarified.

“I don't know, maybe you've just missed a large drop in bad guy morale while you were chilling out.”  Lance hummed. “You definitely haven't missed leg day, but then again with Agent Kogane as your handler how could you?”

“I'm not his handler.”  Kogane snapped.

“You’re definitely his chauffeur.”  Lance countered.

“I didn't know Admiral Sanda was calling you in.”  Paladin cut in, before Kogane could throw a punch. Lance rolled his eyes.

“Big shocker there.”  He said. 

“We're got something interesting on the radar.”  Kogane's co-pilot (who Lance bet didn't get paid enough to deal with their bickering) announced.

“What is it?”  Paladin asked, leaning over to look.  His expression tightened. “That's not possible… it looks like an altean wormhole.”  Lance looked back to their guest and noticed his tense expression.

“On the run from another planet?”  Lance prompted Lotor to look up.

“I wouldn't put it that way.”  He said, first words he'd said all trip.

“It's coming right at us, and fast.”  The co-pilot warned. Kogane got his usual 'I'm about to do something stupid’ expression and tightened his grip on the steering.  Yeah, not happening. Lance pushed the quick release for the hanger door.

“Kozran!”  Paladin scolded.  In the next second a woman landed on the back of the ship, the collar of Lotor’s shirt in her fist.

“Where is the Blue Lion?!”  She demanded.

“Hello, sister.”  Lotor returned, calm as he'd been when denying them answers.  The woman, who definitely didn't look like his sister, threw him from the plane and followed after.

“Goddamnit Korzan!”  Kogane snapped.

“Better than her going through the ship.”  Lance pointed out. “Well, let's go.”

“What?  We needed a plan!”  Paladin protested.

“Easy.  Talk to the pretty lady and get her to hand over the murderer.”  With that, Lance flew from the plane, towards where the lady and Lotor had landed on a cliff.  He meant to tackle her to the ground but he overshoot, sending them crashing into the forest below.  Shit. Kogane definitely wasn’t going to let him forget that. At least he stuck the landing.

“Do not interfere.”  The woman growled, recovering much more gracefully than most people tackled off a cliff would manage.

“Look lady, I get you’re pissed, but we have dibs.”  Lance said. 

“This is none of your business Earthling.”  The woman claimed.

“I don’t know, when someone’s threatening my planet I’m pretty sure it’s my business.”  Lance argued. “Not sure it’s any of yours, gorgeous.”

“Do you think this is a game?”  The woman demanded, her eyes blazing like the whip at her side.  A whip she grabbed out, clearly preparing to use. Lance charged his blasters.  “Perhaps you are one of the witch’s henchmen. I will not allow my brother to be misled.”  

“I don’t know about any witch but-”  Lance cut off with a shout as the whip stuck forward before he was ready, sending him shooting backwards into the nearest tree.  He groaned. “So much for a peaceful solution.” He mumbled, sitting up and blasting the lady before she could strike again. Seeing her fling back much like he had was some pretty nice revenge.

“What happened to talking?”  Paladin frowned as he landed between them.

“She started it!”  Lance defended. He was almost surprised Paladin didn't reply with 'I don't care who started it’.  Maybe he would've if the woman's whip hadn't wrapped around Lance's wrist. She yanked it and, despite the considerable weight of his suit, sent Lance falling into the dirt.

“Aren't you glad you’re wearing a facemask?”  LOGIC chimed, sounding much too amused for an AI system.  Or for Lance's liking.

“Shut up.”  He grumbled.

“Look, miss-”  Shiro tried to reason with the woman only for the whip to fly towards him.  He grabbed it with his right hand, letting energy shock into it and draining it.  The woman starred at him with wide eyes as the whip was thrown uselessly to the ground.  “We just want to talk.” He finished.

“I suggest we go grab Lotor first, then talk on the ship.”  Lance added when the woman didn't continue attacking them.

He wished he was surprised to find Lotor waiting for them, standing just where the woman had left him.  This was way, way too easy.

 

“Alright.”  Lance clapped his hands together once they were all back on board.  Up front Agent Kogane was giving Admiral Sanda an update, at the back Lotor had returned to giving them all the silent treatment.  “How about we start with some interactions?”

“I am Princess Allura of Altea, heir to the Altean throne.”  Allura introduced herself, staring at Paladin as she did. Of course she did.  Stupid Paladin with his incredible physical form and pretty face.

“With the face your making, I'd leave your faceplate down.  Your jealously is showing.” LOGIC chuckled. 

“I will turn you off.”  Lance warned.

“Excuse me?”  Princess Allura frowned.

“Not you Princess!”  Lance quickly said. “I'm talking to my AI sorry.”  

“You're still not wrong.”  Agent Kogane muttered.

“Ignore him.”  Lance said. “I'm Lance, Lance Korzan.  CEO of Korzan industries, leading names of all things tech here on Earth.”

“I'm sure that can't be difficult, last I heard Earth still hadn't even achieved basic space travel.”  Allura dismissed. And okay, maybe it  _ was _ a good thing he'd kept his facemask down.

“Earth's avoidance of space travel was on purpose, actually.”  He pointed out. “And it's a set back I'm very close to overcoming.  In all  _ other _ aspects I'd bet Kozran Industries could rival anything you have.”  

“Kozran, we have more important things to discuss.”  Paladin reminded. “Princess Allura, my name is Takashi Shirogane.  You may not remember-” the princess cut him off.

“I remember you perfectly fine Mr Shirogane.”  She said. “Though I don't understand how you are still so young.  Even with some of Black Lions essence, I did not think human could live so long.”

“It's a long story.”  Paladin said with a tight smile.  Lance didn't agree, all he had to say was ‘I was in a missing cyropod for serval decades before the Garrison found me’.  Story done. “I have to ask, what is your connection to Lotor? Do you know why he's here?”

“Lotor is my brother.”  Allura answered, making the prisoner in question chuckle.  “No matter what blood he has.” She added, clearly for his sake.

“And what blood is that?”  Shiro asked. “He's clearly not Altean.”

“He is half Galra.”  Allura admitted after a moment of hesitation.  “As for his parentage… he recently sought them out.  I believe those he found are manipulating him.”

“The witch does not manipulate me.”  Lotor snapped. There was that term again, the witch.  Why did it sound familiar to Lance?

“Perhaps this is a talk for later.”  Paladin decided.

“Yes I suppose you're right.”  Allura agreed. They spent the rest of the flight in silence.

* * *

“What do they need the iridium for?”  Lance heard a familiar voice as he and McClain neared the meeting room.  Late again, but at least this time it was his fault. He wasn't about to deal with  _ this _ before he had some coffee.

“It's a stabilising agent.”  He answered before turning back to McClain.  “I'm just saying, pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Cuba, you've got to keep in touch with your roots.”

“I'll think about it.”  Agent McClain said, sounding like she just wanted him to shut up.  Lance accepted the answer anyway, turning back to the room.

“It means the portal won't close in on itself like it did at the Garrison.”  He explained, walking past Allura. “Hey, no hard feelings Wonder Woman. The whips cool, you have to let my buddy Hunk look at it.  I promise he'll put it back together when he's done.” Before she could react he took Admiral Sanda's place at the ship's helm. Huh, that  _ was _ everything he imagined it'd be.

“Mr Korzan.”  Agent Rizavi greeted.  “How nice it you to join us.”

“I need at least two coffees before I deal with you Agent Jr.”   Lance said, taking a gulp of his fourth. “Ooh nice man, you almost bet my highscore.  What? That guy over there's playing space invaders. Love your sense of irony.” Lance turned back to group, placing his coffee down and leaving a small bot beneath the deck as he did.  “Where was I? Oh, right. Agent Griffin can get the other materials no problem. The only problem Lotor's little gang of merry men are gonna have is the power source. Something strong enough to use the Blue lions energy without the whole ‘drain the unworthy of their life force’ thing.”

“I didn't know this was in your area of expertise.”  Agent Jr commented.

“It's not.”  Lance hummed, picking up his coffee.  “Hunks the expert in how to make the portal open.  The Blue lion parts are what I know.” Allura scoffed.  

“As if a human could be an expert in any the lions.”  She denied.

“I don't know, your father's notes looked like they covered whatever Blatyz didn't.”  Lance hummed. “What? Am I the only one who did the reading?” He asked when he saw a table of confused faces.

“King Alfors notes are in Altean.”  Agent Jr pointed out.

“And?”  Lance frowned.

“For the kind of power Lotor needs he'd have to set off a nuclear explosion.”  The man who'd been speaking as Lance enter brought them back on topic.

“Unless Leifsdottir figured out a way to do it over time.”  Lance argued.

“To do that she'd need to have it inside a bubble of energy.  And something that could keep consistency. Even a moment of lapse in the energy fuel and the lions shield would repair itself.”

“Exactly.”  Lance grinned.  “It's good to meet you Dr West.  The work you've done in brainwaves is incredible, not to mention you're studies into the conversion and use of energy.  And the big glowly power mans pretty cool. Terrible name though, I mean Kilonova? Seriously? What does that even mean?  Pulse is way cooler.” Adam chuckled, shaking Lance's hand.

“I'll tell the media that next time I wreck a city.”  He said. 

“Dr West is only here to track the lion.”  Admiral Sanda said firmly as she walked up.  Geez and they said Lance was late. “I was hoping you would join him.  Better yet that you'd get your associate to help.”

“My associate?”  Lance repeated, raising an eyebrow at Admiral Sanda.

“She means HACKER and you know it.”  Agent Kogane rolled his eyes. Damn, Lance had been hoping he couldn't talk this early in the morning.

“Of course I know who she means.  I just like hearing Admiral Sanda say it.”  Lance rolled his eyes right back. 

“If you’re both done.”  The admiral cut in. “Once you've reached HACKER,” The name looked like it physically pained Admiral Sanda to say.  Lance loved it, HACKER would too. “Have a look at Lotor’s staff. It's clearly powered by the lion, maybe we can reverse engineer its effects.  At the very least it should tell us how Lotor used turn two of the sharpest minds I have into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Flying monkeys?  I don't understand.”  Allura frowned at the unfamiliar term.

“I do.”  Paladin mumbled, clearly pleased with himself.

“I mean, it's kind of your own fault.”  Lance said, mostly to surpress the urge to laugh at Paladin.

“Excuse me?”  Admiral Sanda snapped.

“Lotor's not controlling them, the Blue lion can't do that.  He just changed their loyalties. Anything they're doing right now is just stuff they'd do for you.”  Lance explained. “Seriously, am I the only one that did any reading on the thing we're trying to find?”  He groaned.

“As much as I am pained to admit it, he is correct.”  Allura says. “While the Red lions power could control the will of a person, the Blue lion can only shift loyalties, a person's heart if you will.  For some, you could say it is a more complete than mind control, as they will act for the wielder even without direction. For others the effect is non-existent.”

“Which means... what exactly?”  Paladin frowned.

“It means James will do practically anything.”  Agent Kogane mumbled, face looking almost pained before he hid the emotion.  “Dr Leifsdottir is a wild card. I wouldn't say she was loyal to the Garrison.  She just worked here sometimes.”

“Dr Leifsdottir won't work on the portal.  Even her loyalty can't make her start a war.  'Course Lotor probably didn't mention the Blue lions being harassed to start a war so we have to assume she's working on that.”  Lance said. “Still, as long as we have Lotor and his staff, we've got all the time in the world for the rest.”

“And what makes you so sure of Dr Leifsdottir's loyalty?”  Agent Kogane frowned.

“I asked Ryan?”  Lance said, like it was obvious.  “He's her best friend.”

“You're assistant doesn't have clearance to know anything that's going on right now Korzan.”  Admiral Sanda reminded.

“I was discreet.”  Lance claimed. Admiral Sanda rubbed the bridge of her nose, clearly she didn't believe it.

“Just, get to work.”  She ordered.

“Labs this way.”  Adam said, leading Lance from the bridge.

* * *

“Done.”  Lance announced, pushing back from the computer.

“You got something already?”  Adam frowned, looking up from the staff.

“What?  Oh, I haven't even started.  No, I mean the video feeds scrambled.  Microphones too. The garrison officially cannot hear or see this room.”  Lance grinned.

“What about the door?”  Adam asked.

“Even HACKER couldn't guess the new password.”  Lance claimed. “And the rooms soundproofed, I checked the schematics.”  He added before Adam could ask his next question.

“Well  in that case.”  Adam forgot about the staff in favour of pulling Lance into a tight hug.  “I've missed you.”

“I've missed you too.”  Lance said softly. “You should call more.”

“You know I can’t risk getting a phone.  They’d just track me.” Adam shook his head.

“I can make you one.”  Lance said. “Completely untraceable.  And it won’t even look like a Korzan Industries phone.”  He offered. 

“That’d be nice.”  Adam smiled. “It’d be good to hear from you more.  Although, are you sure you can even schedule me in?”  He teased. “Life of a CEO must be pretty busy.”

“That’s what Ryan keeps telling me.”  Lance joked. “But I’m sure if I tell him I need time to call my brother he’ll schedule you in.  How does a minute and a half every second month, spread across three days, sound?”

“I think we can make it work.”  Adam chuckled. 

“Plus, this could work out for us.  Now you and I have officially meet, we can start hanging out and then you can move into the tower.”

“Okay, ignoring all the reasons it’s too risky for me to move to New York of all places.  This is classified stuff. According to the world, we still don’t know each other.” Adam pointed out.

“Well Hunk and I started going into the self-sustaining energy.  Who better to reach out to than the scientist that spends all his time studying energy?”  Lance tried.

“Maybe.”  Adam said.  “But what about the publicity?  You already took a huge hit shutting down Father’s weapons.  You don’t need to be harbouring a criminal. Or worse, you don’t need people thinking you’re studying  _ me _ .”  

“KI’s recovered from the weapons drop.”  Lance claimed. “And we’re one of the highest names in medicine and transportation, nevermind personal technology.  Any bad press, we can handle.” 

“I’m pretty sure all those industries are less forgiving than the people that wanted guns.”  Adam pointed out. 

“We’ll figure it out.”  Lance claimed. “I just, i just want you to come home.  I already set up your own floor in the tower, you know. It’s got everything.”  He tried. “I mean, only if you want it. I guess, I guess that was kinda rude to set up without asking or anything.”  He mumbled.

“Lance, I want to.”  Adam assured. “I miss having you down the hall.  And I hate seeing you fight and not being able to call and make sure you’re okay.  But I just… I feel like it’s more trouble for you than it’s worth.” 

“Adam, you’re my brother.  There’s no such thing as too much trouble.”  Lance assured. Adam smiled but before he could say anything there was a heavy knock on the door.  “Maybe if we ignore them they’ll go away.” Lance suggested hopefully. 

“Come on Lance, it could be important.”  Adam pointed out.

“Fine, fine, I’m acting natural.”  Lance rose his hands in defence, heading over to his computer while Adam returned to the staff.  The door rose with Paladin posed to knock again. 

“Ah, the great Paladin graces us with his presence.”  Lance greeted dramatically. He walked around from his computer, there wasn’t really anything that needed his interaction yet anyway.

“I didn’t know you had clearance to lock the doors.  Or black out the windows.” Paladin frowned.

“Yeah, being constantly monitored doesn’t sit well with me.”  Lance said. “Meshes with my creative flow.”

“You’re not here to be creative, you’re here to help find the Blue lion.”  Paladin frowned.

“And you think that isn’t going to take some creativity?”  Lance rolled his eyes. “What are you thinking Doctor?” He prompted Adam, and tried not to smirk too obviously at the annoyed expression that got him.

“It’s trackable.”  He said. “And it’s familiar.  It’s the same energy Kilonova uses, which I can track.”  He added.

“Argh, I really hate that name.”  Lance groaned. “Okay, we  _ need  _ to start hanging out.  Then I’ll get interviewed about you and can tell everyone Pulse is way better.”

“I’m rather sure Dr West has better things to do than be your publicity stunt.”  Paladin frowned. 

“He really doesn’t.”  Lance claimed. 

“I don’t know, figuring out this energy stuffs pretty important.”  Adam argued.

“This energy stuff would be way easier from my tower.”  Lance protested. “I’ve got all the toys.”

“I don’t do well in crowds.”  Adam said, shooting Lance a pointed look.  He could see what Lance was doing here, and he wasn’t happy about it.  Though he wasn’t about to call him out and ruin their cover either.

“You’ll be fine.”  Lance said, zapping Adam with one of the tools that was laying around.  

“Ow!”  Adam jolted away, shooting Lance a half-hearted glare.  

“Hey!”  Paladin exclaimed, clearly panicked.

“See, nothing happened.”  Lance said, like he didn’t know it was perfectly safe.  He probably knew more about Adam’s powers than anyone, except Adam.

“Are you nuts?”  Paladin frowned.

“Probably.”  Lance brushed him off.  “You’ve got this stuff on lockdown Doctor, you’ll be fine.” 

“Can you take anything seriously?”  Paladin scolded.

“Sure, serious things.”  Lance shrugged.

“But you don’t think the safety of everyone aboard this ship is serious?”  Paladin asked. “No offence, doctor.” He added, looking apologetically to Adam who just sighed.

“It’s all right.”  He said. “I wouldn’t’ve come aboard I couldn’t handle a zap or two.  I knew what I was getting into.” Lance smirked at the meaning Paladin completely missed.

“You need to relax, have a little fun.”  He told Adam.

“And you need to focus on the problem Kozran.”  Paladin said.

“You don’t think I am?”  Lance frowned back. “Why did Admiral Sanda call us in now, of all times?  She knew messing with the Blue lion would attract attention, from the altean’s if no one else.  But I bet even you and Kogane didn’t know she was doing it. So what isn’t she telling us? I can’t call in HACKER if I don’t know what’s really going on here.”

“You think Admiral Sanda’s hiding something?”  Paladin frowned.

“She runs a super secretive military force.  You think she’s not?” Lance rolled his eyes.  “It’s bugging you too, isn’t it Adam?”

“How about we just focus on finding the lion.”  Adam mumbled, clearly not wanting to get involved.  

“Doctor?”  Paladin prompted, frowning.  Adam sighed and placed down his tools.  He wasn’t getting out of this.

“‘To collect some ice from Kerberos’, Lotor’s jab at Admiral Sanda about using the lion for space travel.”  He started.

“I heard it.”  Paladin said, tone tight.  Lance had no idea what Adam was talking about, maybe he should watch the footage from before he got to the meeting.

“I don’t think it was a jab at you.”  Adam said. “I think it was meant for Lance.  I mean, it doesn’t take much to figure out you're the only name in space travel right now.”  He said. “All the news is talking about is that building of yours.”

“The Kozran tower?  That ridiculous skyrise in New York?”  Paladin frowned, completely ignoring Lance’s offended gasp.

“The whole purpose of the building is developing the tools needed for safe space travel isn’t it?”  Adam asked.

“Actually it’s mostly for testing.”  Lance said. “The whole thing’s being run by a self-sustaining battery Hunk made, and it’s security features are prototypes of what we’ll be putting on the final ship.  We figure, if everything’s still passing the quality tests a year from now we’ll be good to send a ship up.” Lance explained. “The actual developments are happening in the middle of nowhere, can’t really launch a ship from the middle of New York.”

“So why didn’t Garrison being him in on the Blue lion project?  What are they doing working on space travel in the first place?”  Adam asked.

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programme finishes breaking into all of Garrison’s secure files.”  Lance hummed, walking back to his computer to check on that.

“I’m sorry.  Did you say,” Lance cut him off.

“LOGIC’s been running it since I hit the bridge.  In a few hours, I’m know every dirty secret Garrison’s trying to hide.”  

“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.”  Paladin frowned.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if they weren’t being so sus.”  Lance claimed. Paladin took a deep breath, trying to smooth out the frustration on his face.

“I think Lotor’s trying to wind us up.  This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don’t stay focused he’ll succeed.  We have orders. We should follow them.” He said.

“Yeah, I don’t do following.”  Lance said. “Especially not when the person shouting orders is keeping secrets.  It’s not really my style.” 

“And you’re all about style, aren’t you?”  Paladin huffed.

“Well you’ve got to have a hobby.”  Lance said.

“Takashi, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.”  Adam cut in. Paladin frowned, looking between them once.

“Just find the lion.”  He said, storming from the room.  Lance immediately relocked the door and redarkened the windows.

“I told you he was a jerk.”  Lance huffed. “I don’t know what Thace was going on about.  They never should have woken him up.”

“He definitely isn’t the old-fashioned gentleman he thinks himself.”  Adam muttered. “Jeez, you’d think the great hero could treat people with a little respect.”

“I don’t even know what I did to the guy.  He acts like I spat in his coffee.” Lance said.  “It’s probably Kogane’s fault. He doesn’t think much of me, and they’re close.”

“Still.”  Adam frowned.  

“Let’s just find the stupid lion.”  Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair.

* * *

“We've been found out.”  Lance said as the red warning appeared on screen.  “What do you reckon Adam? Barricade?”

“Let them come.”  Adam shook his head.  “If things to wrong I've got you.”  Lance nodded and let the windows clear and the door unlocked.  Moments later, Admiral Sanda stormed into the room. Allura followed in behind her.

“What do you think you're doing Mr Korzan?”  She demanded.

“Huh, kinda been wondering the same thing about you.”  Lance said, eyes not leaving the screen in front of him.

“You're supposed to be locating the Blue lion.”  Admiral Sanda reminded.

“We are.”  Adam said, gesturing to one of the other computers in the room.  “The model’s locked and we’re sweeping the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within half a mile.”

“Yeah, then you get the lion back.  No muss, no fuss. What is ‘phase two’?”  Lance asked. Before Admiral Sanda could reply, Paladin stormed into the room and slammed a large gun onto the table.

“Phase two is Garrison uses the lion to power weapons.  Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me.” He said.  

“Shirogane, we gathered everything related to the Blue lion.  That does not meant that we’re making-” Lance cut the admiral off as LOGIC finally broke through the last firewall.

“You wanna try that again?”  He asked, turning the screen over.  Phase two was clearly outlined on the screen, and it was less spacecraft defense and more blow up anything that even looks at Earth or it’s ships.  As they were taking in the sight, Kogane slipped into the room.

“Did you know about this?”  Adam frowned at Kogane, who didn't do much as blink an eye.

“If Keith knew he'd have said something.”  Paladin claimed, even as Kogane didn't defend himself.

“Doctor West, I think it'd be best if you removed yourself from this situation.”  He said, rather than answering the question. 

“I was in Calcutta.  I should pretty well removed.”  Adam refused.

“Lotor is manipulating you.”  Kogane said.

“And you've been doing what, exactly?”  Adam returned.

“If you think the situations getting a little tense, it sounds like a you problem Kogane.”  Lance added.

“Excuse me for giving a damn about Kilonova aboard in a ship miles in the air.”  Kogane snapped.

“You didn't seem to care much when you invited me on the thing.”  Adam pointed out. “Oh right, but you weren't feeling twitchy then.  Now it's a completely different story.” 

“It's not about us being twitchy,” Kogane started, managing the words through gritted teeth.  Lance didn't let him continue.

“No, its about distracting us from the fact you're making  _ space-grade weaponry _ .  You wanna explain that admiral?”  He snapped. Admiral Sanda didn't answer right away, but even she could see the was no way around it.

“What other options do we have?”  She snapped. “Decades ago Earth entered a truce with the galra, and not only were we backstabbed and betrayed but we were woefully, pathetically outmatched.  If not for altean help, humanity would have been wiped out. You expect us to go out there without the right protection?!”

“Guns aren't protection!”  Lance snapped.

“Remind me again how you made your fortune Korzan?”  Admiral growled.

“I'm sure if Korzan still made weapons, he'd-”  Paladin started.

“I never made weapons!”  Lance shouted. 

“Now who's being manipulative?”  Kogane scoffed. “Everyone knows Korzan Industries was the world's largest manufacturer of weapons.”

“Yeah,  _ was _ .”  Lance snapped, taking a step towards the agent.  Paladin stepped between them.

“You're the company's CEO, whatever it did is on you.”  Paladin claimed.

“I'm sorry, do you have any idea how business works?”  Lance said. He would have continued, just to shout some sense into these idiots, only to have Allura add her two cents.

“I thought humans were more evolved than this.”  She scoffed. “It’s a wonder why my father trusted you with any power from the lions.”

“Excuse me, do we come to your planet and start liberating your prisoners?”  Admiral Sanda glared.

“These are your supposed champions?  Altean children would be better suited.”  Allura claimed. “Certainly they would have better sense than to use the lions as weapons.”

“We can’t go in unprepared.”  Keith argued. “Garrison has always monitored potential threats.  These weapons are no different than having countermeasures for Shiro’s powers.”

“Paladin is a potential threat?”  Adam rephrased, raising an eyebrow at Keith.

“We all are.”  Keith said.

“Wait, are you a threat?”  Lance asked. “Are you above or below a hot topic employee?”

“Korzan, so help me, if you keep antagising Keith…”  Paladin warned.

“Oh my god, the great Paladin, morale backbone of humanity, is threatening me.  How far our race has fallen.” Lance said, tone as dramatic as possible.

“Show some respect.”  Paladin frowned.

“Uh, why?”  Lance challenged.

“And you think your people could control the Blue lions power.  All you would cause is chaos.” Allura said.

“That's Lotor’s MO, isn't it?  So who better to give his staff.  I mean what are we? A team? No we're just the heavy hitters.  The people Garrison want on the front lines because you'd be glad to be rid of us.  And it we lose it along the way, well all the better for your image. Adam accused.

“You need to step away Dr West, before this becomes too much for you.”  Admiral Sanda ordered.

“Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?”  Lance asked, knowing full well what their response would be.  Nevermind actually studying Adam's powers, let's just act like every little thing could set the guy off.  Lance would be surprised if that wasn't Garrison's official stance on the matter.

“You know damn well why.”  Paladin snapped, proving Lance's point perfectly.  “Back off.”

“Oh I'm starting to want you to make me.”  Lance said, stepping closer to the world's favourite hero.

“Yeah?  Big man in a suit of armour.  Take that off, what are you?” Paladin glared, mirroring Lance's step and leaving them almost chest to chest.

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”  Lance rattled off the list on his file, biting his tongue against everything else he wanted to say.  He wasn't about to blow his secret-keeping status just because Paladin was an ass.

“From what I've seen, you're nothing but a self-centred bully.”  Paladin claimed. “And I don't just mean in person. I've seen the footage, the only thing you really fight for is yourself.  You can't even listen to someone else, let alone make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”

“‘Course not.  I'm not an idiot, I'd just cut the wire.”  Lance said, voice steady even as he clenched his fists.

“Always a way out.  You might not be a threat Korzan, but your better so pretending you're a hero.”

“A hero?  Like you? You're only special because a rock liked you.  You got lucky, that's all. At least I worked to get where I am.”

“Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.”  

“You people are so petty.”  Allura scoffed. “And tiny. Ants acting like you're giants.”

“Step back Paladin.”  Adam ordered, his glare startling Paladin when he looked up.

“Agent Kogane, would you kindly escort Dr West back to his-” Admiral Sanda started through gritted teeth.

“Where?  You rented my room.”  Adam snapped.

“The cell was just in case-”  Admiral Sanda tried but again she didn't get far.

“In case you needed to kill me.  But you can't. I know, I tried.”  Adam's admission sent a ripple of stillness through the room.  Or maybe it was just through Lance. 

“Adam?”  He asked, turning to his brother.  And maybe if the others hadn't been so distracted they'd have noticed the softness in his tone.

“I got low.  I didn't see an end.  So I put a bullet in my mouth.”  Adam explained, not looking at Lance as he did.  “The other guy spat it back out. So I moved on. I focused on helping people.  I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put _ everyone _ here at risk.  Just so you could get back your weapon fuel.  But you're going to sit there and act like Lance is the selfish one?”

“Dr West,” Paladin tried, only for his words to die in his throat when Adam glares at him.

“Adam,” Lance started, receiving none of the cold treatment, “put the staff down.”  Adam blinked, seeming to come back to himself. He looked down and realised, yeah, he was holding the staff.  When did that happened? Adam let go of the thing to just as their tracker pinged.

“Thats it.”  Adam said, taking his first full breath in what felt like hours.

“You located the Blue lion?”  Allura asked.

“I can get there fastest.”  Lance said.

“The lion belongs on Altea.  No human is a match for it.” Allura argued.

“You aren't going alone.”  Paladin said, grabbing Lance's shoulder as he tried to walk off.

“Oh please, you couldn't even keep up grandpa.”  Lance scoffed, pulling out of Paladins hold.

“Put on the suit and let's find out.”  Paladin challenged.

“Oh no.”  Adam's eyes widened as he saw the lions location.  “Lance-” 

The ship exploded.  Fire ran through the room, blasting them in different directions.  Lance groaned as he hit the wall? The floor? He wasn't sure but he definitely ended up on the ground, with Paladin on the other side of the hall.  The hall? When did they get in the hall?

“Put on the suit.”  Paladin instructed, recovering quicker than Lance.

“Yeah.”  Lance nodded, pulling himself up off the ground.  

“ _ I'm connecting you to Garrison common channel now _ .”  LOGIC said into Lance's ear.  

“Keep an eye on any other channels being used.”  Lance instructed.

“Pardon?”  Paladin frowned, looking back to where Lance was following behind.  Lance hoped he was hiding his limp better than he thought.

“Ear piece.”  He explained. “Never take it off.”  You never knew when something horrible might happen.  Like the room exploding. Man, if Lance had a nickel for everytime that happened.

“Can they get it running?”  Lance heard Agent Rizavi ask when the comm connected.

“Fire in engine three!”  Someone gave the context Lance was just about to ask for.

“Talk to me.”  Rizavi ordered, tone calmer than Lance had expected.  Maybe he should stop calling her Agent Jr.

“The turbine looks mostly intact but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs.  Not while we're in the air anyway.”

“If we lose one more engine we won't be.”  Rizavi muttered. “Someone needs to get outside and patch that engine.”

“Lance, you copy that?”  Agent McClain asked, her background noise suggesting she wasn't near Rizavi.

“How would-” Rizavi started.  Thankfully LOGIC was smart enough to give Lance's comm higher priority.

“Copy.”  His next step planned, Lance stopped paying close attention to the comms.  

“What's going on?”  Paladin asked.

“Nothing good.”  Lance frowned before explaining the situation.  “I'm going to need someone on the ground for that turbine.  Well not, you know what I mean.”

“I've got it.”  Paladin assured.  “But you'll have to coach me.  Things have changed a lot since I was a pilot.”

“Easy.”  Lance nodded, he took off his comm and threw it to Paladin.  “My suit has one. I'll meet you at engine three.” Paladin nodded, placing the comm on before they went their separate ways.  

* * *

The engine looked worse than Lance had thought.  The surrounding walls were a mess, destroyed enough to reveal the halls within.  Hopefully Paladin wasn’t scared of heights. The actual engine wasn’t looking too horrible.  All he needed to do was clear out the debris, and give it a push, and hope he didn’t get shredded for his efforts.  Oh, and get the superconducting coolant system back online.

“LOGIC, can you give me a quick scan?”  Lance asked. He was pretty sure he had it covered, but it's always better to get a second opinion.  Especially when that second opinion is a super computer.

“You'll need to get the cooling system back in, then just clear it out and give it a push.”  LOGIC confirmed. “Don’t get yourself killed.”

“Good plan.” 

“Korzan, I’m here!”  Paladin shouted from the edge of the crumbling floor.  

“Good.”  Lance flew over to Paladin.  “Okay, it looks like it should be an easy enough fix.  For those of us in flying metal suits anyway. I need to get the coolant system before I can clear the debris.  I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in the indie position.” Lance ordered.  Paladin nodded, leaping from his current terrible platform to one higher up while Lance got into the engine proper. Of all the times not to have Hunk around.

“What does it look like in there?”  Lance asked.

“It seems to run in some form of electricity.”  Paladin reported. Lance took a deep breath. 

“Well, you're not wrong.”  He muttered.

“Sorry, I didn't think things had changed this much.”  Paladin apologized. “Walk me through it, I'm a quick study.”

“If hasn't changed as much as you think.”  Lance said. “It's all asthetics, and there's more of everything.  Give it a second, you'll figure it out.” He claimed. “LOGIC, pull up the schematics for me.”  He instructed, comms turned off as he did.

“On it.”  LOGIC said.  

“I got it.”  Paladin beat the AI to it, sounding both surprised and proud.  “I think.” He added, less confidently.

“Alright, give it too me.”  Lance instructed. It took a little longer to deal with the overloads, that's stuff that had changed, but they still made good time. 

“What's our next move?”  Paladin asked.

“I clear the rotors and then I push.”  Lance said.

“You push?”  Paladin repeated.  “You'll get shredded Korzan.”

“It's going to need a jump to re-engage.”  Lance explained. “But yes, if it gets up to speed it'll shred me.  Which is why I need you at that stator control unit. It'll reverse the polarity long enough to disengage Maglev and that could-”

“Simpler terms.”  Paladin cut in. Lance sighed.

“See that red lever?  It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out.”  He tried again. “Wait for my signal, then yank that puppy and no one gets shredded.”

“No shredding, sounds good.”  Paladin nodded. “I'm in position.”  He added a moment later.

“Alright.”  Time to  _ not _ die, Lance told himself.  Cutting away the debris was the easy part, the Iron Champion armour had some pretty precise lasers he loved getting to use.  It was the pushing that was the problem, putting enough power into his thrusters meant taking some from the system that handles his suits considerable weight.  

It was all the harder when the ship started falling.

“Korzan, we’re losing altitude.”  Admiral Sanda informed.

“Yeah, I noticed.”  Lance snapped. God if he has to go fix the second one after this…

There!  Up to speed!

“Hit the lever Kronk!”  He shouted. 

“I need a minute.”  Paladain said. Oh no.  There went Lance's sense of victory.

“Lever, now!”  Lance shouted as the blades starting moving faster than he was.  “Oh no.” He hit the blade behind him. “Paladin!” He managed to shout before he was sucked under the blades.

Lance slipped out what felt like a lifetime later.  He turned to give Paladin a piece of his mind only to see a sheild agent pointing a gun Paladin’s way.  Okay, fair enough, he thought as he tackled the agent to the ground.

“Please tell me it's over.”  Lance groaned.

* * *

It was over.  

But Lance was hard pressed to say they'd won.  Adam was gone, Kilonova flying him god knows where midway through the battle.  Which was especially bad considering only he had seen the lions location. Allura was MIA too, likely a glass covered crater somewhere far below them.

And Veronica…

Veronica was dead.

Lance sat on the bridge in a state of shellshock as he thought those words over and over again, trying to understand them.  

Veronica was dead.

“These were in Veronica's jacket.”  Admiral Sanda claimed, throwing a collection of blood covered cards onto the table.  Vintage Voltron training cards. “I guess she never got you to sign them.” Lance picked up the card closest to him, a picture of Blatyz stared back at him, blood had stained on the top corner.

Veronica was dead.

“We’re dead in the air up here.  Our communications, the location of the lion, West, Allura… we have nothing right now.  Maybe I had that coming. Yes, we planned to make an arsenal with the Blue lion. I never put all my chips on that number though, I was playing something even riskier.”  Admiral Sanda went on. Lance was barely paying attention, focus solely on the card in his hand.

“There was an idea, Korzan knows this, called the Voltron Initiative.  The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to recreate the Voltron of old.  For them to fight the battles we never could, just as the first Voltron did against the galra.  Veronica McClain died still believing in that idea. In heroes.” Lance was out of his chair before he even realised it.  

“Shut up.”  He glared, hoping the tears at the corner of his eyes weren't obvious.  “You don't get to use her memory like that.”

“Excuse me?”  Admiral Sanda frowned.

“Veronica didn't give a damn about the original voltron.  The cards are Rizavi's, she was just too much of a wuss to get Paladin to sign them herself.”  He said. “She definitely didn't have them on her when she,” he couldn't manage to say the word.  “Don’t stand there and try to make her a martyr. Not by lying.” 

“Korzan.”  Paladain grabbed his arm as Lance tried to leave.  Lance hadn't even seen him stand.

“Don't call me that.”  Lance snapped, pulling out if the hold.  No one else approached him.

When Lance stopped walking he found himself on the detention floor, standing in front of an empty space.  Hours ago, Lotor had been contained there. Then Allura had plummeted here. 

But originally the cell was made for Adam.  Adam who wasn’t dead, just missing. Adam who he could find.

“Come on Hunk.”  Lance mumbled into the ringing phone, tapping his foot.  It rang out. He tried again, but it rang out again. “Hunk pick up man, I need you.”  Lance's unheard pleading did nothing, the phone still rang out.

“I didn't realise you and Agent McClain were so close.”  Lance jumped at Paladin's voice. The phone rang out again.

“No one did.”  He mumbled. “It was intentional.”

“She wasn't fond of the original paladins?”  The man promoted.

“She wasn't fond of you, she didn't know the others.”  Lance said. “But she didn't think we should be clinging to them, no.  And Admiral Sanda never cared for the initiative. It was Iverson's plan.”  The phone rang out again. “Do you have my earpiece?” 

“Huh?  Oh.” Paladin took the earpiece out, throwing it over.  “Who are you trying to reach?”

“Hunk.”  Lance answered.  He put on the earpiece.  “LOGIC you there?”

“Thats a good idea.  Talking to friends and family is a good way to deal with grief.  Is this the first time you've lost someone?” Lance couldn't help but bark hysterical laugh at the question.   _ Find Adam _ , he reminded himself,  _ you have to keep it together so you can find Adam. _

_ “ _ I thought you read my file Paladin.”  Lance managed much more calmly. “I've lost almost everyone.”  Lance clarified at the hero's confused expression. “LOGIC.” He repeated into the earpiece, turning from Paladin.

“ _ Sorry, here _ .”  LOGIC responded.  “ _ I have some bad news.” _

“What?”  Lance asked, chest tight.  He wasn't sure how much more bad news he could take.

“ _ I can't get into the towers computers _ .”  LOGIC reported.  “ _ It’s Protocol Blackout _ .”  

“Lance?  What's wrong?”  Paladin frowned.

“Connect me to Hunk.”

“ _ I  _ can't.”  LOGIC stressed.  “ _ I've been trying to reach him since I noticed.” _

“Ryan then.”  Lance tried. The earpiece began to ring.

“I'm fine.”  Ryan reported as the cell connected.  “I got out.”

“Ryan, what happened?”  Lance asked, starting to pace.

“The tower was attacked.  LOGIC was preoccupied and Ina had no trouble getting in.  They were after Hunk.” Ryan explained. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Hunk?  Why Hunk-”  Even as he said it, Lance realised the answer.  “Ina won't make the portal. But Hunk would.” 

“They haven't left the tower.”  Ryan said.

“Then that's where they're doing this.  Lotor isn't dumb enough to let us regroup, he's probably already started.”  Lance said, running a hand through his hair. “The son of a bitch is in my house.”  There was that hysterical laughter again.

“Lance?”  Paladin tried again.  Lance rose a finger, telling him to wait a moment.

“Ryan I need you to get out of the city.  Go to the beach house.” Lance instructed.

“I'm not just going to hide.”  Ryan frowned. “I can help.”

“I know you can, but I need you to do something else for me, okay?  Adam's MIA, but he pulsed out right before. The prototype tracker is at the beach house, I need you to find him.”

“Where's the not prototype?”  Ryan frowned.

“The tower.  And I know you can take are of yourself but  _ please _ don't try to break in.  I've lost enough people today.”  

“Lance?”  Ryan asked, softer.  “What happened?”

“I'll tell you when this is over.  Just, please, find Adam.” Lance said.

“I'm on it.”  Ryan nodded. “Stay safe, okay?”

“You too.”  Lance nodded.  The phone disconnected on Ryan's end.

“Lance, what's going on?”  Paladin asked.

“I know where Lotor is.”  Lance said. “I'm going to stop him.”

“You can't do this alone.”  Paladin said.

“I'm not working with Sanda.  She's no better than Lotor.” Lance refused.

“I know.  We can deal with her after.”  Paladin assured. “For now just let us help, not Sanda.”  Lance hesitated a moment before nodding.

“Okay.”  He said. “Teamwork dreamwork, right?  Let's do this.”

“Alright.  I'll get Keith, you start getting your suit battle ready.”  Paladin instructed. 

* * *

“Griffin?”  Lance frowned as he reached the meet up, suit as fixed as he was going to get it.

“Korzan.”  Griffin nodded.  “You look like shit.”

“Says the guy that was being loyalty controlled like ten hours ago.”  Lance rolled his eyes. “How'd you get him out?” 

“Kogane hit me in the head.”  Griffin said. “Knocked the evil right out.”

“Kogane hit you?  That's how?” Lance frowned, looking to the agent in question.  Kogane glared back, cheeks just a little too red. Oh this was gold.

“Yes.”  Kogane snapped, clearly seeing Lance didn't buy it.  “Can we please just focus on the matter at hand.”

“First things first we need a ship.”  Paladin came to the agents rescue. “Shouldn't be too hard to take one in all this confusion.”

“I'll need to go ahead.”  Lance said. “This suits flight ready but it's not fight ready.  I need to go get a new one.”

“Aren't all your suits in the tower that Lotor has taken over?”  Kogane frowned.

“Yep.”  Lance confirmed, popping the ‘p’.  “I'll be the frontal assualt, see if I can't save the world before you guys even get there.”

“What happened to working in a team?”  Paladin frowned.

“I won't be much help to the team in this thing.”  Lance argued. “Besides you guys literally can't keep up.  My suits are designed to be faster than those ships.”

“...Alright.”  Paladain sighed.  “But we'll be right behind you Lance, don't be ashamed to wait for us if it's too risky.”

“Got it.”  Lance gave a joking salute.  “Now we should really get out of here before Sanda realises we're up to something.”

It was pathetically easy to steal one of the Garrison ships.

* * *

“ _ You know, you could try  _ sneaking _ in _ .”  LOGIC pointed out as Lance neared the Tower.

“I've got to at least try.”  Lance argued. He could see Hunk, standing right next to the machine Ina would never have made.  “Hunk!” He shouted for the engineers attention.

“Lance!”  Hunk called back, grinning ear to ear.  “Look what I've made, this'll change everything!”

“Not in a good way.”  Lance called back. “Hunk you need to shut that thing off.”

“Who cares?  It's what Lotor wants, it’s what you want!”  Hunk claimed. “This way you'll finally see the stars.”

“Not this way.  Come on man, listen to me.”  Lance pleaded.

“Don't stand in my way Lance!”  Hunk glared. 

“ _ I can calibrate the stun mode to blast Lotor out of his head. _ ”  LOGIC informed.

“That's not how it works.”  Lance said, preparing his blasters for the machine instead. 

“ _ But Keith-” _  LOGIC started.

“Kogane lied.  You can only override the Blue lions power by reminding someone of their real loyalty.  I'm pretty sure he kissed Griffin.” Lance said. He shoot the portal machine.

Then cursed as the attack was blasted right back at him.  

“You wouldn't be able to blast through.”  It was Lotor that spoke, standing on the balcony that wrapped around the building.  Lance took a deep breath.

“Start up the new model.”  He told LOGIC.

“ _ What _ ?”  LOGIC frowned.  “ _ Do you have any idea how long that will take?  I've been locked out of the tower, I'll have to hack my way in _ .”

“Better get started then.  And while you're at it, send out an evacuation order to everyone in the city.”  Lance said. He landed on his balcony, trying not to shake as his armour was stripped away.  Sure it was mostly useless right now anyway, but still.

“Come to join my side Iron Champion?”  Lotor smirked.

“Hasn't the witch told you?”  Lance hummed. “I'm very much on the human side in all of this.  No, I'm here to threaten you.”

“Finally figured out who she is, did you?”  Lotor chuckled, following Lance through into the building proper.  Thank Hunks insistence on multiple entry points, leaving Lance and Lotor on opposite sides of the entertaining room.  And Lance was on the side with the bar.

“It wasn't hard once I had a second to think.”  Lance shrugged. “You know, whatever she promised you, you wouldn't give it.  Want a drink?” 

“She has promised me nothing but the chance to claim my birthright, something I will achieve in mere moments.”  Lotor claimed.

“No drink then?  I'm getting one. I can't deal with your dramatics sober.”  Lance claimed, pouring himself that drink while subtly clipping on the brackets on the bench.  Ryan can never complain about him leaving his stuff everywhere again. 

“You're rather terrible at threatening.”  Lotor claimed. Lance took a deep drink of his glass, holding up a finger.

“Actually I've been told I'm very good at it.  Ask the witch. Why do you think she came running to you for help taking over the Earth?”  Lance asked.

“She came to me because it is my birthright.  Zarkon was my father, this planet is rightfully mine.”  Lotor argued.

“You really believe that?  You weren't even the witch's first choice of pawn in this game.”  Lance rolled his eyes. “She came to you because she could manipulate you.  If you win she'll take the credit and when you lose, because you will lose, she'll get away Scott free.  You're best shot is to back out now, give it up before you piss anyone else off.”

“You're wrong, I will win and the glory shall be mine alone.  My army is but moments away, they will march on your pathetic planet and they destroy it.  Then I shall take my father place on the throne and the galra shall rise again.” Lotor proclaimed.  

“I guess there's no reasoning with you.”  Lance sighed. He placed down his drink and walked towards the wannabe empire.  “But I assure you I'm right Lotor, you're going to lose.”

“Against who?  You? You stand alone little man, you don't even have your suit.  Any allies you had, I've scattered them to the wind.”

“Did you?”  Lance hummed.  “Well that's awkward, because you didn't.”  He claimed. “All you did was piss them off.”

“You think your allies will return?  Perhaps.” Lotor smirked. “But how will they fight me when they are too busy fighting you?”  He pressed the tip of his staff to Lance's chest, over his heart like he had so many others.

But nothing happened.

“Well, would you look at that.  The great Iron Champion has no loyalty.”  Lotor chuckled.

“Oh I have plenty of loyalty.”  Lance smirked right back. “Must be some other reason.”  Lance watched as Lotor came to the first conclusion, that Lance was worthy of the Blue Lions power and therefore immune to it.  Of course, Lance knew if had more to do with the metal in his chest but Lotor didn't need to know that.

“Impossible.”  Lotor protested.

“Is it?”  Lance smirked, then gasped as Lotor's hand gripped his throat tightly.  “Hurry it up LOGIC.” He managed through wheezed gasps. 

“If you are so worthy, you are of no use to me.”  Lotor growled. He dragged Lance to the edge of the room, despite the humans struggles.  Lance shut his eyes tight, he heard the telltale ding of the elevator opening just as he smashed through the window and began falling.

“LOGIC!  Hurry it up!”  Lance screamed, heart in his throat as he sailed further and further down.  Wind race past his hair, normally a comforting feeling but right now making him sick.  This was not how he wanted to die, damnit. 

Something slammed into him, and then something else, soon his whole body was incased and finally Lance was flying, not falling.

“I give you a ten for dramatic timing, but a zero for my hearts health.”  Lance said as he tried to catch his breath.

“ _ Well maybe you shouldn't go in and antagise the bad guy by yourself _ !”  LOGIC snapped.  

“Touché.”  Lance mumbled. He reached the window he'd just been thrown out of.

“ _ What are you doing?!” _  LOGIC protested.

“This is for Veronica.”  Lance said, blastering Lotor in the chest.  His satisfaction was short-lived as he heard the wormhole above.  “Right. Army.” Robotic creatures begun to spread into their works and Lance meet them at the door, blasting as many as he could.

There were too many.

“Geez, where’s the back up when you need it?”  Lance mumbled, trying his damnest to get as many as he could as fast as he could.

“ _ I'm working on it _ .”  LOGIC claimed.  “ _ Just hold of a little longer _ .”

“Well, it you insist.”  Lance said. He pulled up a little, starting the auto aiming on his shoulder missiles.  It still wasn't enough.

“Korzan we're coming in on you're three, what's the situation?”  Kogane asked. Thank God Lance thought to connect their comms before he left.

“Shitty!  The situations really, really shitty.  Where the hell have you guys been? There some jet level drive-thru I don't know about?”  Lance huffed. “Swing around to Park, I'll line them up for you.” Making sure not to lose the robots, Lance left the wormhole to do just that.

“ _ I need you to run the electro pulse on one of the robots _ .”  LOGIC said.

“Got it.”  Lance set his blasters to electro pulse and flew towards a new group of robots.  “How many?”

“ _ One should be enough _ .”  LOGIC assured, which was convenient because electro pulse wasn’t the same fast blasts of his usual energy blasts.  He shot the first robot with LOGIC’s request, then changed his blaster settings once more. After spending the buffering time dodging, he took down the remaining robots.  

“All good?”  Lance asked, scanning for the next most dangerousness set of robots.  

“Perfect.”  The female voice came from the robot, whose lights had turned from purple to green.  It raised it’s hand in an ‘a-ok’ gesture.

“Sweet.”  Lance flew off.  “Guys, don’t attack any green robots.  They’re on our side.” He informed the others.

“What?”  Kogane asked.  Lance would have explained, but he was quickly distracted by the behemoth monster that flew, slowly, from the portal.

“Today just gets better and better.”  Lance muttered. It was almost whale-like, swimming through the air without trouble.  If they weren’t literally fighting the start of a war, he’d have loved to figure out how it worked.

“Lance, are you seeing this?”  Paladin asked.

“Yep.”  Lance confirmed.  “Not sure how I’m going to stop it, but well, there’s a first time for everything.  Is Adam here yet? He could probably do it no problem.” 

“Adam?”  Paladin frowned.  “You know Dr West is MIA.” 

“So was Allura.”  Lance hummed. “Just keep me posted, I’ve got a robotic space whale to fight.”  Somehow. Surely it had a weak spot. Everything has a weak spot. 

That weak spot definitely wasn’t it’s side, which sliced through the nearest buildings like paper.

“Okay, let’s focus on gettings its attention first.”  Lance decided. “Weak spot can come after it’s away from buildings full of people.”  Attention grabbing wasn’t nearly as hard, blast the giant space whale a couple of times and suddenly it follows you no problem.  It was even nice enough to stay in the middle of the roads while Lance led it towards the open bridge the others had claimed.

“Adam please be here soon.”  Lance mumbled.

“Allura.”  Lance heard Paladin greet in his ear piece.  Must have turned it always on mode, or maybe he’d just bumped it.  “What’s the situation like upstairs?”

“The power surrounding the lion is impenetrable.  Whatever Lotor did, it worked.” Allura’s voice carried over on Paladin’s earpiece.

“Allura’s right.”  Lance said. “Well, about the whole power being impenetrable part.  Lotor didn’t have anything to do with it though, it was all Ina. Maybe Hunk.”  He pointed out. “Do one of you have a spare earpiece you can give her, by the way?” 

“I’ve got one.”  Paladin confirmed.

“Okay, so we can’t reach the lion.  How do we do this?” Kogane asked.

“As a team.”  Paladin said, all heartwarming and plan-lacking.

“I cannot waste time on the smaller fight.”  Allura refused. “I have unfinished business with Lotor.”

“Yeah?  Get in line.”  Lance barely heard Griffin mutter.

“This smaller fight is the main deal princess.”  A new voice rang over the comms. “Hey, chill, green lights!”  She added, presumedly when the others moved to attack her. Man, Lance was just missing all the action trying to keep this flying space whale from destroying the whole city.  

“HACKER?”  Kogane guessed after a moment.

“Obviously.”  HACKER huffed.  “As I was saying, stopping Lotor doesn’t mean anything if this army keeps going.  The ‘smaller fight’ is the big deal.”

“Clearly you can hack the robots, why not hack them all?”  Allura argued.

“It’d be super ineffective.”  HACKER said. “They’re all on different frequencies, I would literally have to hack them all.  Smashing them is going to be quicker.”

“Okay, so we focus on the ground.  Look for an opening with Lotor, take it if you can, but it’s not our main priority.  Agreed?” Paladin said, looking between the group.

“Did everyone nod?”  Lance asked after a moment.  “I’m a bit busy here, can’t fly by and check.”  It was hard enough just keeping track of the conversation in between blasting any robots that came near.

“Yes, everyone nodded.”  Pidge confirmed.

“Great, cool, I’m also nodding.  In spirit.” Lance said.

“Alright, here’s the,”  Lance never heard what was here, Paladin’s voice was replaced by the sound of a terrible motorbike nearing.

“So, there’s all seems pretty bad.”  Adam said when the motorbike shimmied to a stop.  “Anything I can do to help?”

“Lance, he’s here.”  Paladin said, sounding surprised.  “Adam, just like you said.” 

“Finally.”  Lance breathed.  “Tell him to suit up, I’m sick of being the carrot on a stick.  Time to bring the party to you guys.” 

“I don’t see how that’s a party.”  Kogane frowned as Lance led the whale around the next corner and straight to them.  

“Dr West, now might be a good time to get angry.”  Paladin instructed.

“It’s never been about anger Paladin.”  Adam revealed, turning to the robotic monster.  “Just pain.” He shut his eyes and when he opened them again there was no trace of human Adam.  Engry wrapped around his body, lifting him up and making his skin glow. Adam’s body noticeably grew, his hair looking more like pure energy as it wiped around his face.  There was something unnervingly non-human about Kilonova, all the more obvious when he shifted so easily.

Of course, no one was about to complain when Kilonova sent blasts of pure energy straight towards the creature.  

“One of you must tell me how an earthling became so infused with quintessence.”  Allura frowned at Kilonova.

“Later.”  Lance brushed her off, settling among the group and being acutely aware of the robotic space whales and soldiers flying towards Earth.  “So Paladin, what’s the plan?”

“Alright.”  Paladin took a deep breath.  “Until we can close that portal, our main priority is containment and evac.”  He decided. “I need-”

“Watch out!”  HACKER called as a robotic soldier lept towards Paladin.  It didn’t make it, shot dead with a smoking hole in it’s head.

“Where did that come from?”  Griffin frowned, looking around.

“What did it come from?”  Kogane asked, looking at the smoking hole.

“The best vantage point in the city, and a new prototype Lance has been working on.”  A voice answered into their comms.

“Ryan!”  Lance snapped into the comms, glaring around at the tops of buildings despite not knowing which one his assistant was on.  “You’re meant to be at the beach house,  _ safe _ .”  

“I found Adam, he’s right there.”  Ryan said. “You weren’t fooling me with that Lance, I’m not about to hide from this.”  

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”  Kogane asked, sounding a little suspicious.

“Because he’s Kinkade.”  HACKER answered. 

“I am so docking your pay for this.”  Lance muttered, knowing full well he wouldn’t.

“Lance, we need all the help we can get.”  Paladin pointed out. “Ryan, is it? Are you good to give us cover?”

“Already on it.”  Ryan assured. 

“Good, keep your eyes on everything.  Locations, patterns, tell us all of it.”  Paladin ordered. “Lance, you're our sky support.  If it's flying, bring it down. And keep an eye on the buildings, there might be people that need a flying evacuation.”

“Got it.”  Lance nodded, quickly rejoining the fray.  He heard the others fanning out, each handling a different section of the ground with Kilonova handling the robotic space whales.  Lance fell into a pattern, he listened out for Ryan's calls, shooting everything in sight or giving lifts to street-level depending on what the situation needed.

His neat little system changed when he received a comms request from Rizavi.

“Agent Jr, to what do I owe the pleasure?”  Lance asked, quickly directing the latest group of civilians underground before turning back to the robots.

“Admiral Sanda approved a nuke directed straight at you.”  Rizavi informed quickly.

“What?”  Lance frowned, distracted enough he forgot to dodge as a robot shoot him.

“Lance, you alright?”  Ryan asked, the robot falling to the ground as he spoke.

“Sorry, distracted.”  Lance muttered. “Rizavi how long have we got?”

“Three minutes max.”  Rizavi answered. “I’m sending you the qardinants for the ship carrying the payload.”

“Got it.  I'll handle it.”  Lance confirmed. “You know, I'm surprised you sent this to me.  I didn't think you liked me that much.” He couldn't help but add.

“I don't like you.  But Veronica trusted you, and I trusted her.”  Rizavi answered, leaving Lance no idea how to respond.  “Besides, I don't think Paladin can redirect a nuke.” She added, which was much easier to react to.

“Fair enough.”  He watched the jet stop, then turn.  Lance put as much power into his thrusters as he could.  When he reached the nuke he gently settled beneath it, directing it towards the portal.

“I can close it.   I can shut the portal down.”  Kogane called over the comms.

“Do it!”  Paladin ordered.

“Wait!”  Lance protested.

“Lance, those things are still coming.”  Paladin frowned.

“Well I've got a nuke, and I think the other side of space is a much better place to put it then my house.”  Lance explained. For a moment there was silence.

“Lance, you know that's a one way trip.”  Paladin pointed out.

“Lance, you can't.”  Pidge argued.

“Ryan, you remember code Black Dress, right?  This is a code Black Dress.” Lance said, ignoring the others.

“...Code Black Dress.”  Ryan repeated, tone shaking.  

“Ryan!”  Pidge scolded, she continued but Lance turned off his comms.  He needed to do this, he couldn't be distracted. Lance took a deep breath and started pushing the nuke up, towards the portal.  He guided the nuke up and up and through the portal. Once he was sure it was on the right path, he let go.

Lance turned to the stars, trying to ignore his lack of air.  They were beautiful. Thace was right.

His eyes slipped shut.

They didn't open.

He didn't see himself slip back through the closing wormhole, or see Kilonova catching him, or feel the power that Kilonova set into his body.

Lance woke with a gasp, looking up to find Kilonova, Paladin, and Allura looking down at him.

“What happened?”  He groaned. “Please tell me no one kissed me.  Unless it was Allura, or Ryan.” 

“He’s fine.”  Paladin said, sounding relieved.  “We won.” He told Lance.

“Alright, sweet.  Never doubted us for a second.”  Lance said. “Are you guys hungry? There's this great restaurant near here run by this awesome Cuban couple.  We should go check it out. Favourite restaurant.” Lance mumbled, mostly to himself.

“We're not finished yet.”  Allura pointed out, looking up to the tower.

“And then food after.”  Lance said. “Can someone help me out of this?  And remind me to make the next suit space capable.”  Paladin moved to help him but Kilonova was faster, and much more prepared to rip the suit in half.  “I didn't say break the thing,” Lance whined as he pulled himself out of the suit, with Paladin's help this time, “for that you have to carry the suit back.”

“I've got it.”  Allura said, having no trouble with the ridiculously heavy iron suit.

“I'm in love.”  Lance swooned. 

They met Ryan and Griffin at the bottom of the tower, Ina standing with them. 

“Ina, you're alright.”  Lance grinned.

“As are you.”  Ina returned. “Can we assume you're over your deathwish now?”

“Probably not.”  Lance chuckled.

“You had better be.”  Ryan glared, taking over for Paladin in supporting Lance to stand.  “If you ever try to do that again I will kill you myself.” 

“You’re so cute when you're mad at me for almost dying.”  Lance teased, leaning into Ryan's hold.

“Flirt later, let's go.”  Griffin chuckled, leading them into the building.  Lance let them into the elevator, sending them straight to floor Lotor was still on.  Kogane and Hunk were waiting for them.

“Lance!”  Hunk shouted, throwing his arms around Lance.  “I'm so sorry.”

“It's fine.”  Lance assured, trying to hide the way he winced at Hunk's hug.  “It's good to see you back to yourself. How?”

“I saw you fighting!  The army was hurting you and it was my fault it was here.”  He sniffled.

“Huh, no head hitting required.” Lance smirked at Kogane, who glared back.

“Can we secure Lotor now?”  Kogane huffed. “I'm not sure how much longer he'll be out.”  The moved into the room proper, where Allura cuffed the unconscious half-altean.  When Lotor started to wake a few moments later he was met with a group of very angry people holding serval dangerous weapons in his direction.

“If it's all the same,” Lotor started, testing his restraints, “I'll take that drink now.”

“Drinks are for people that listen when they're warned about evil witches.”  Lance said. 

“Remember this Lotor.”  Allura said. “In your time of need, the witch is no where to be found.  She is not to be trusted.”

“And you are?  You are the reason I'm in need.”  Lotor argued.

“No.”  Paladin spoke up.  “This is your own fault, you can't blame someone else.”  

“So what now?”  Lotor said, glaring at Paladin.  “I am to be handed over to your leader so she can do as she pleases?”

“Actually, Allura will be taking you with her.”  Iverson announced, stepping out of the elevator with a grinning Razavi following behind.

“Commander Iverson.”  Griffin greeted, sounding surprised.

“Admiral Iverson now.”  Rizavi announced.

“Yes, there was a considerable mutiny when Sanda too it upon herself to shoot a nuke into a civilian city.”  Iverson confirmed. “Excellent work redirecting it Dr Korzan.” He nodded to Lance.

“A compliment?  From Iverson? And you remembered I'm a doctor?”  Lance whistled. “Hunk pinch me, I'm dreaming.” Iverson rolled his eyes, and turned to Allura.

“Princess Allura of Altea, correct?”  He asked, holding it this hand. “I'm Admiral Iverson, newly in charge of the Garrison.  Apologies for not yet introducing myself, I was located at a different base until just this morning.”  He explained.

“I see.”  Allura greeted, somewhat suspiciously.  “You say you are turning Lotor into my care?”  She repeated.

“After all you've done for us is the least we can do.”  Iverson confirmed. 

“Thank you.”  Allura offered a smile.  “We will return home promptly.”

“By which she means tomorrow, maybe the day after.”  Lance but in. 

“You look like you could use some rest Princess.”  Paladin added when Allura glared at Lance.

“You are of course welcome to stay.”  Iverson assured.

“...I suppose a few days of rest will do me good.”  Allura agreed.

“Excellent, Iverson you handle Lotor, Hunk let's go get the Blue lion.”  Lance grinned.

“Lance you can barely walk.”  Ryan frowned. 

“I am not passing up my one chance to see this thing up close.”  Lance argued. Hunk sighed but led Lance over to the machine. He disabled the last of the lions defences while Lance waited for the big reveal.

The Blue lion was a glowing lion statue, no bigger than Lance's hand.  Lance had dedicated serval years to studying the lions, he knew the risk of an unchoosen, non-altean touching the mystic force.  Yet he couldn't help but be mesmerised by the lion.

Before he knew it, without hearing the shouts of his name, Lance was holding the Blue lion.

“I'm holding the Blue lion.”  He noted. “I don't feel like I'm drowning.”

“Impossible.”  Allura breathed.

“What did I just say about trying to get yourself killed?”  Ryan groaned into his hands.

“I want trying to get myself killed!”  Lance argued. “I just, I felt like I had to hold her.  And I am. Holy shit, does that make me…” He trailed off.

“The Blue Paladin.”  Allura breathed.

“The owner of a totaled skyrise.”  Kogane countered, eying Kilonova. His sparks, which had been fading, were bright once more.  And the wall behind him was indeed totalled.

“Thought you were in danger.”  Kilonova managed, staring at Lance and ignoring the surprised response around then.  There were very few people who'd heard Kilonova speak before. The first of those people had been Lance.

“I'm fine big guy, so's Adam.  Well be fine now, you can rest.”  After checking for danger once more, Kilonova nodded.  In the next moment, all the magic faded and Adam returned.  Thankfully Paladin was close enough to catch him.

“Did we win?”  Adam mumbled. “Did I hurt anyone?”

“Only the bad guys.”  Paladin assured, helping him up ton his feet.  “We won.”

“Great.  Awesome. Great.  Does anyone have a sandwich?  I'm starving.” Adam said.

“Food!  Right!” Lance cursed himself for forgetting.  Standing, he slipped the lion around his neck without a thought, like it had always been a thin amulet with a chain.  “Let's go.”

“Seriously?”  Kogane frowned.

“A good meal sounds perfect.”  Griffin agreed.

“Any battle should be ended with a feast.”  Allura nodded. “Led the way Blue Paladin.”

“We’ll contact you about him tomorrow.”  Iverson said, nodding towards Lotor. “You've more than earned the rest of the day off.”

“Lock up on your way out.”  Lance instructed.

* * *

“Ah, the heroes of New York.”  A Cuban woman greeted as they entered the restaurant.  “What an honour to meet you all.”

“You should have evacuated.”  Lance pointed out.

“You knew I'd still be here.”  The woman hummed. “Marco’s already cooking your favorites, though I'll have to warn him you brought more guests.”

“Yes, these are my new friends.”  Lance grinned. “We have Ina, Ryan's friend, Shiro, aka Paladin.  Princess Allura of Altea, and that's not a stage name. Then those two are James Griffin and Agent Kogane, first name Agent last name Kogane.”

“Seriously?”  Keith huffed. “Everyone else got their actual names!”

“So did you.”  Lance claimed.

“His name's Keith.”  Shiro introduced before Keith could throw a punch.

“It's wonderful to meet you all.  Everyone calls me Mama Rosa. Thank you for all you've done for us today.”  Rosa said.

“It was our honour.”  Allura smiled.

“Ah, but where are my manners, please take a seat!”  She instructed. Most of the group did just that, except for Lance who grabbed Adam before he could pass.  The only stranger he hadn't introduced.

“And this mama,” he said, quietly enough he hoped no one else heard, “is Adam.”

“Hi ma’am.”  Adam greeted, somewhat awkwardly.

“None of that dear.”  Rosa brushed him off. “You are my son's brother, you must call me mama.”

“Thank you.”  Adam smiled softly.

“I'm sorry I couldn't save Veronica mama.”  Lance added, tone drastically different. 

“Stop that.”  Rosa said, subtly giving Lance's hand a quick squeeze.  “She knew the risks of her job, as do you. I'm just glad one of you came home.”  They shared a small, mournful smile and then Rosa perked up. “Now go sit down, before your new friends notice anything.”  She instructed. 

“What was that about?”  Kogane asked when Lance and Adam took their seats.  

“Just warning her that this guy eats enough for three, and that HACKER should be joining us.”  Lance claimed.

“HACKER?”  Griffin frowned.  “I thought she was super anonymous?”

“To the Garrison, sure.”  Lance grinned.

“I haven't seen her yet either.”  Ina pointed out.

“That's just bad planning.”  Ryan reminded.

“She doesn't have to reveal herself, not if she's not comfortable.”  Shiro said. 

“She was the... robot, correct?”  Allura asked.

“She was controlling the robot.”  Lance confirmed.

“She's one of the greatest minds of her generation.”  Keith said. “But the only way to get to her is through Lance.”

“Well you guys could ask me.”  Hunk pointed out. “You just never do.”

“It’s not nice to talk about people when they're not here.”  A familiar but less electronic voice spoke up. 

“Pidge?”  Keith and Shiro asked at the same time, starring at the girl who hadn't aged in decades.

“I see you have three paladins on your planet.”  Allura said. 

“Close your mouths boys, you'll catch flies.”  Pidge said, taking the open seat next to Ina.

“You're not even going to explain?”  Keith frowned.

“Allura just did.”  Pidge claimed. “Besides, we have something more important talk about.”

“More important?  You were pronounced dead  _ decades _ ago.”  Keith reminded.

“So was Shiro.”  Pidge argued. Then she turned to the rest of them.  “Blowing up their home turf shouldn’t’ve shut down all the robots like that.”  She said.

“Why not?”  Hunk frowned.  “I mean, if they were all connected to the same manager that was on the mothership, it makes sense.”  

“If they’d all been connected, I would’ve been able to hack them all long before the admiral got nuke happy.”  Pidge said. “The were all running independently of each other, which means that connection was really well hidden.  Or someone else ran a script that flickered each kill switch individually, and incredibly quickly. And I know it wasn’t the first thing.”

“The witch.”  Lance and Allura came to the conclusion at the same time.  No one else would have that kind of authority, Lance doubted even Lotor had known it was possible.

“She’s been mentioned a few times.”  Shiro noted. “Who is she?”

“No more of that.”  Rosa said, placing a plate of tamales on the table.  “You’ve all worked hard enough today. Now is a time to unwind.  If I hear any more talk of work I am getting out the chancla.” She warned.

“Got it Mama Rosa.  No more work talk.” Lance promised.  “But only if you and the chefs come eat with us.  If we can’t work, you can’t.”

“I suppose that’s fair.”  Rosa chuckled. “I will back out with more food in a minute.  Eat los niños, eat.”

Eat they did, conversation moving to anything but work.  Well, expect for a few fun stories from the battle but Rosa let that slide.  Marco opted not to join them, but Lance wasn’t surprised. He was like Hunk, cooking away his feelings.  A few times Lance looked over and saw the sadness in his mama’s eyes and wished he could pull her close, could cry the tears he was holding back.  But some secrets are best kept just that. 

 

“I heard what happened to Veronica.”  Ryan said once they’d finished eating.  Everyone was headed back to the tower, which was still in tact enough to be a pretty chill sleepover venue.  Plus it was closest. Ryan and Lance trailed behind, mostly because Lance wasn’t doing well with the whole walking unaided thing right now.  Turns out falling from space hurts. “How are you holding up?”

“As good as I can be.”  Lance answered honestly.  “I miss her. I’m mad I can’t tell people I miss her.”

“You did what you had to to protect her.”  Ryan reminded.

“Lots of good that did.”  Lance sighed. “Let’s not talk about this yet.  I’ve gotta get through a couple more days before I can process it.”

“I’ll be there when you do.”  Ryan promised. He pressed a soft kiss to the side of Lance’s head, holding him just a little tighter than need be.  Lance leaned against him just a little more. 

“Thanks.”  He said. “It means alot.”

* * *

Despite what he told Ryan, Lance still found himself on the roof that night.  Unable to sleep.

Veronica was dead.  The galra had made their first big move against Earth.  He was the Blue Paladin.

“It’s been a busy few days Thace.”  Lance whispered to the stars. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff I’ve been through.”  Behind him the door opened, Lance turned to see Allura step outside.

“I’m sorry.”  She said when she noticed him sitting there.  “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You’re not interrupting.”  Lance shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“I’m feeling homesick.”  She admitted, sitting next to him.  “After everything that’s happened, I feel like I could really use my father’s advice.”  

“I get it.”  Lance hummed, looking back up.  “I come out her to talk to Thace sometimes.  He was kind of like my dad. Technically he was my nanny, not my dad, but he was close enough.”  

“What happened to him?”  Allura asked.

“Car accident.”  Lance said. “It was a while ago now.  Thace loved the stars, always talked about them.  It’s why I got so interested in space travel.”

“I see.”  Allura hummed.  

“Sorry, I’m rambling.  You came up here to talk to stars not me.”  Lance tried to laugh off his unusual openness, not sure what had brought it on.  Maybe he’d just been up too long, Hunk always said he got extra clingy and talkative when he was tired.

“No it’s fine.”  Allura assured. “It’s interesting to hear about your loved ones.  I must say, I rather misjudged you.” 

“Oh?”  Lance prompted. 

“I thought you were a flirt, in it for the fame.”  Allura admitted. “I read your files, skimmed them anyway, and they seemed to support that.  But I now see they were wrong. If the Blue lion choose you, there must be more to you intend.”  

“I don’t know.”  Lance chuckled. “I’m definitely a flirt.”  Allura rolled her eyes, though she at least seemed amused.

“Here.”  She said, offering Lance a communicator not quite like any they had on Earth.  “It’s a communicator, linked to my person device. I am going to give one to Admiral Iverson tomorrow, but I thought you should also have one.  If you need me, just call and I shall come.”

“Thank you Allura.”  Lance smiled at the small device.  “I’ll take good care of it.” They slipped into silence, staring back at the stars until Lance felt his eyes finally grow heavy.  He yawned. 

“I think I’m ready for bed.”  He announced, standing and stretching.  “See you tomorrow Allura.”

“See you tomorrow Lance.”

* * *

The next day, in a clear space, Allura called open a wormhole to take her and Lotor home.  She bid her farewells to the team one last time, and then they were gone.

Keith and James were dressed casually for once, with a few days leave to recover.  Lance had offered to pay for the trip they wanted to take, which of course meant the hotel room had only one bed.

Shiro left on his own, waiting to explore.  He’d been awake for over a year now, but most of that had been spent at the Garrison or with Keith.  There was a whole new world he hadn’t seen.

Pidge had quickly scurried away to her hiding hole, with lines upon lines of code stolen from the galra robots to comb through.

Lance went home, back to rebuild the tower and help repair the city.  Hunk and Ryan came with him, of course. But more importantly Adam agreed to stay around a little, if only to catch up.  

A few days later Lance would make a quiet visit to a grave marked Veronica McClain.  He’d spend a night with a family he could never be seen publicly visiting, and spread the next day surrounded by the friends that knew.

It had been a long, hard battle and Lance knew there were more to come.  More fights, more loses.

But at least they would have a brand new Voltron to form against whatever threat the Earth faced.

**Author's Note:**

> [And another website like, naturally](https://kailsmusings.wordpress.com)


End file.
